The Morning After: Sony looks beyond the PS4

When asked in an interview with Xbox 360 Magazine Italy (fan translated by Hell Descent and verified by Joystiq) if the upcoming Silent Hill: Downpour would have a multiplayer mode, Vatra Games' Radek Marek surprisingly didn't get up and walk out, laughing. Instead, the art director replied, "At the moment there will be no multiplayer modes in Silent Hill: Downpour, but Konami are investigating a separate chapter devoted entirely to the Multiplayer." A separate chapter? Could you tell us more, Mr. Marek? "We do not know the details but it should be an XBLA title that most players have to survive in the town of Silent Hill."

So, to recap: This year's retail-bound Silent Hill: Downpour won't have a multiplayer mode but publisher Konami is "investigating" an XBLA experiment, if you will. Konami's last XBLA multiplayer experiment was last summer's unremarkable Castlevania: Harmony of Despair. Let's hope the moody isolation of Silent Hill better lends itself to a multiplayer installment.

[Update: Downpour producer Devin Shatsky hit up the Hell Descent forums to let everyone know that Downpour won't have a multiplayer mode. "Whoever that Italian interviewer was either took Radeks comments completely out of context, or it was lost in translation," Shatsky said. "As previously mentioned, we were (many moons ago) investigating a separate Multiplayer mode, but that was quickly extinguished when we costed it out and determined how much resource time it would detract from the core singleplayer experience."

Of course, the initial rumor never said that Downpour would be receiving a multiplayer component; rather, that a separate Silent Hill multiplayer product could make its way to Xbox Live Arcade. We're trying to get an updated comment.]